A Model of Sporadic Thoughts / FHHH friends

Architects:FHHH friends

Area:103m²

Year:2022

Photographs:Roh Kyung

Lead Architects:Yoon Han Jin, Han Seung Jae, Han Yang Kyu

Category:Houses

Design Team:Hong Hyunseok, Cho Youngho

Engineering & Consulting > Structural:Teo Structural Engineering

Engineering & Consulting > Mep:Hana Consulting Engineers Co., Ltd

City:Seoul

Country:South Korea

Text description provided by the architects. Every element of this house, designed for a newlywed couple, is closely connected with light. The site is located in a densely packed residential area of Seoul, where strong measures for privacy are required. For a client concerned about exposure, we boldly proposed a house that relinquishes outward views, allowing all senses to focus on light itself.

The plot opens widely toward the southwest. In the morning, brief sunlight enters from the east, and as the sun moves from south to west, the house enjoys long hours of abundant daylight. When imagining this house, we pictured light filling every corner throughout the day. Yet, harsh, straight shadows felt unsettling—like enduring blunt statements all day long. We wished for the changing light to be metaphorical, a gentle presence that lingers briefly rather than leaving scars across the space.

The northern façade stands as an independent, non-functional wall. It softly channels the direct sunlight pouring in from the south into the interior. At the same time, it screens views from neighboring buildings, allowing a glass curtain wall to be installed within the façade. Though it offers no outward view, this large curtain wall expands the interior outward, preventing a sense of confinement.

Small skylights connect the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms, creating a continuous passage of light. I imagined the paths of light as a kind of service conduit, akin to plumbing, but unlike ordinary service spaces, people inhabit them. This is also why the interior has no additional finishing materials. The natural gray tone of concrete, I found, is the ideal material for holding and diffusing sunlight.

Like a basement with a large dry area, light scattered against the walls loses its wave, leaving only mass that lingers for a long time, much like the scent of ramen secretly cooked at dawn, still present in the morning. As expected, throughout the design process, I constantly poured out sporadic thoughts about light. To see if these ideas worked in reality, I created models to test and verify them repeatedly. Through this process, the house was completed, earning its title: "A Model of Sporadic Thoughts."

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